


time, lady

by PersephoneHemingway



Series: once upon a time lady [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Half Time Lord!Reader, Love Confessions, Not Canon Compliant, One Shot, Reader-Insert, Secrets, Timey-Wimey, is shit a bad word
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 16:44:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18392327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PersephoneHemingway/pseuds/PersephoneHemingway
Summary: you're half-time lord and the doctor doesn't know (yet)





	time, lady

**Author's Note:**

> I got a little wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey with my headcanons. Hope you don't mind.  
> Also, I’ve got a sweet spot for 12 right now, but if you ignore two lines, this could really work for 9, 10, or 11 as well. :) It’s fun to imagine different faces with the same words sometimes and see how the vibe changes.  
> Not brit-picked. I'm from the States, so my words and phrases might be off from time to time. My b.

The Doctor entered the TARDIS as _The Oncoming Storm_ , pushing you ahead of him in a fury. 

"You,- reckless-!" He had to pause to catch his breath as he slammed the door. Meanwhile, you made a show of brushing yourself off as if the Doctor's manhandling had left you covered in debris. 

"You-" He rushed you back until you hit the center console, and then he slammed his hands down around you to get in your face. Your noses were nearly touching. 

"I told you to stay put!" His voice had the quiet, hissing intensity of a man on the edge of absolute collapse. His accent was thick. "You could've been killed! And not just the usual, 'Oh wow, woo-hoo Doctor, that was a close one, huh? Pretty dangerous, right? We almost died, ha!' NO, (Y/N), I mean DEAD. _Really_ dead, (Y/N)!" 

"Doctor-"

"That room was suicide, you shouldn't have survived!"

"But I did, didn't I?"

"By pure chance!"

"By strategy and good timing, Doctor. I had it handled! I knew exactly what I was doing. I do have some tricks up my sleeve, you know."

"There's nothing you have that I don't! "There's no 'trick' you have that could've gotten you out of there! You can't possibly be telling me you ran blindly into a room full of _hate_ and _murder_ with a _well-thought-out plan_!"

Deadpan. "Well, I did. Maybe you don't know everything there is to know about me, Doctor." 

You stared at the Doctor. The Doctor stared back.

He didn't understand, and you couldn't explain without outing yourself—you hated it. How were you supposed to tell him you were half-time lord?

&

54th century Italian gelato store. Go figure.

"Doctor, lemme have a taste!" You're leaning into him and sticking out your tongue.

"No! If you wanted it so bad, you should've gotten it!"

"But the whole point of us getting different flavors is so we can try more of them!"

"No, the point of us getting different flavors is so I can enjoy the one I want without getting," he flapped his free hand around vaguely, " _human_ all over my cone!"

"Ha, if only you knew..." _you aren't alone..._

You stuck your chin into your gelato and pouted.

&

It was an accident. It really was.

A knee-jerk reaction—the plane was falling out of the sky and, well, you stopped it. With the same reflex someone would use to prevent something from hitting them in the face, you'd flinched and thrown out your arm with your palm towards the plane, effectively freezing it in midair with a burst of golden light.

Your head quickly snapped between the plane, your hand, and the Doctor in several rounds, blanching as you realized what you'd just done.

"Shit. Oh, shit. Shit, shit Shit." Your panic then suddenly evolved from _flustered disaster_ to _action-oriented problem-solver_ and you jumped from your seat. "Oh shit!" You raised both your palms in front of you and a series of golden concentric circles unlocked as your eyes flicked between them. Once satisfied with their readings and positioning, you closed your eyes and all your muscles tensed as you poured energy into the seal. The circles glowed bright then blurry, and then you and the plane dematerialized into a fog of light. It lingered.

&

When it was all over with, you ended up back in the thin metal chair across the table from the Doctor looking up and on as the plane puttered happily along its intended flight path. You let out the longest breath and swooped your coffee cup off the table to clutch your head in your hands. You couldn't bear to look him in the eyes. As more time passed in silence your hands fisted into your hair and pulled.

"Say it! Just say it already! Get it over with, I can't take it!"

"Say what?"

"That you want me to leave! That I'm a liar! That- I don't know- just say _something_! _Please_!"

The Doctor waited a beat before he asked, "How did you do it?"

"How di- huh? Do what?"

"The plane, how did you save the plane, once you were up there? I _have_ to know these things!"

"Oh, uh, I- there- it was an electrical failure. All normal and boring, no international terror incident or anything. I jumped back a day so I could figure out where the plane came from and have time to get there. I flew with them until something went wrong, which seemed to be some kind of circuit problem. I don't know how planes work. Anyway, I rewound it all again to before takeoff, and told the mechanics to look _really_ hard for something sketchy. I guess they fixed everything up peachy, because I flew with them again and we reached the destination fine. Then I just left everything else alone and backed up my own timeline to when I was still sitting here with you about to freeze the plane. But this time I didn't need to." A beat.

"That's brilliant, you're brilliant."

"Uh, no, I wouldn't say—I just—"

"Saved a plane full of people and everyone else in the potential crash site on the ground. On gut instinct."

"Uh, yeah... I guess so..."

"(Y/N). Why do you think I'd want you to leave?"

"I... I didn't tell you... and it's... it's been so long... I thought you'd—" And that's when you passed out from overexertion.

&

Your consciousness drifted back and you could tell you were on the TARDIS. You blinked and turned your head.

"Hey, there's the sleepyhead. Mind telling me why you had me worried you'd fallen dead at my feet?"

"There haven't been many times I've had to use that much time at once. And I've never portaled an entire jet plus passengers before. I know I was pushing it." Your cheeks pinked and you looked down

at your toes.

"I guess you're not quite as reckless as I thought."

A pause.

"I'd figured out you were a hybrid within the first month. After the murder room incident, I dug around and figured out what you were a hybrid _of_. I was just waiting you out after that. I didn't know you had temporal manipulation, though. That was a genuine surprise. Rare."

"You weren't mad?"

"That you'd kept it from me? Not mad. Well, a little. But it's a pretty defining secret, I didn't blame you. Was just a bit sad you didn't trust me with it."

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's that—!"

"You don't trust."

"...Yeah. There were other time lords who weren't so happy that I existed.”

“I can imagine, with your special time abilities.”

"My mother had the Gift. And so do I." Your shrugged. He hummed.

"So, how many have you been? Before this you?"

A shy smile. "This is my fourth face."

"Really? How old are you?"

"Ahh," You pretended to check a wristwatch as you mentally crunched the numbers. "Six-hundred and forty-six... tomorrow, actually!"

The Doctor beamed. "Your birthday is tomorrow!?"

"Mhmm."

"I know just where to go!" He flung himself out of his seated position and made a mad dash to the TARDIS controls, as wild as usual.

You were still smiling as you eased yourself up off the floor and made your way to the console. You flicked a switch and maneuvered a handle of sorts. The Doctor gave you a _look_.

"What? You think I didn't know you always leave the parking break on?"

The Doctor made a face and went back to his pre-flight prep. You stared straight into the plunging buoy whirring in the middle. You dropped your voice into an uncertain tremor.

"You think I could fly her sometime?"

The Doctor turned to face her profile.

"Why not right now?"

Your jaw dropped as you locked eyes with him. You broke into a sunshine smile and bobbed your head up and down before dashing in front of him between his arms.

A breathy exhale. "What do I do first?" Your eyes were full of wonder as your fingers skimmed buttons, knobs, and switches.

"Coordinates." His lips were raspy soft by your ear. He floated his arm to yours and moved your hand to a touchscreen panel on your left.

You turned to face him and looked at his lips before flicking your eyes back up to his eyes. _So quiet. So still._ "Where are we going?" 

You felt the Doctor rapidly tapping the panel over your fingers, turning a dial, and flipping the main navigation screen backwards all before you could turn back to the console.  "That's still a surprise." He stepped back from you.

"No fair!" You followed.

"No fair, huh? Pretty big surprise, I'd say, finding out your human companion is only half-human."

You blushed and ducked your chin, leaning back against the console for support. The Doctor smiled, leaned forward, and tapped your nose before walking over to the other side of the console. He nodded for you to follow.

"Okay, hit this," You did. "then this," You did. "nudge this," You did. "spin this," You did, with style. "bring those down," You did. "do the hokey-pokey," You didn't. "come over here and—"

"Oh, I know this part!" You grabbed a bar lever and slammed it down dramatically, the TARDIS lurched, and you stumbled wildly to the side.

"Oi, get back over here, you've gotta steer, you know!"

You bounced off of the staircase handrails and rushed back over to the flight controls. "Okay, okay, don't need to make your eyebrows so angry..."

"I beg your pardon!?"

"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it, all faces have their quirks! You should've seen my second regeneration, I was a stringbean and my nose was all crinkly-"

"Did you ramble on like this then, too?" Under his breath, soft enough you missed it as you barreled on.

"I moved like a weathervane and almost blew away in a storm! I had more freckles than there are stars!"

"Unlikely. Are you sure you're time lord? Your numerical reasoning should be far better than that."

Your head fell back as you laughed. "Half-time lord, Doctor. Forgive me my humanity."

"Hmm. Forgiven."

"Oh look! Look at me! I'm flying the TARDIS!" Your face was radiant joy; then it shifted to something a bit more mischievous.

"I'm rambling endlessly and I'm flying the TARDIS! I must be the Doctor!"

"Oh, hush." He pouted on the other side of the console and grumbled unintelligibly as he checked the readouts.

"Veer right, would you?"

"Towards that shiny green thing?"

"No, NO, do not fly towards the shiny green thing!" He ran up behind you and redirected the route to his satisfaction before handing the controls back over to you.

&

You poked your head out of the TARDIS doors and looked down into black space.

"So, where are we?"

"Take a guess."

"Hmm, an invisible planet?”

"Close, but no cigar! Just wait…”

And the wait was so worth it. Not thirty seconds later, something in the black shifted—some glimmer, some unseen wave shook the particles of empty space until they burst from stardust into stars, all twisting and twinkling into existence. Like running your hand through water filled with bioluminescent algae, you thought there was nothing until you moved—and then there was _everything_.

“Doctor, it’s stunning…”

“It’s the birth of the Milky Way. Figured a birth was an appropriate event for a birthday.” His hands squeezed your shoulders and you leaned into him.

“I could look at this for the rest of my lives.”

“I was hoping you’d like it.”

“I do.” Your eyes were awe, soaking in creation. An odd thought hit you. "Oh, and I should probably tell you.."

"..What, (Y/N)?"

"Your sonic still doesn't work on wood. Never did. I was the one opening those doors and whatnot."

"I should've known!"

&

You were getting a bit sleepy by now, looking out over the galaxy, legs dangling out the door of the TARDIS. The Doctor was fidgeting.

"Hey. (Y/N)."

"Mm?"

He murmured a short phrase in an alien language, hoping you wouldn't push too hard for a translation.

You smiled, eyes still drowsy, but pleased. "Oh, I love you too, Doctor."

His face bloomed with alarm. "You- you know Gallifreyan!?"

 _"[Yeah, my mom taught me a bit. Always thought it was pretty. I know my accent's off.]"_ A casual reply in Gallifreyan.

"So when I'm talking to the TARDIS, you can understand!?"

"Mhm."

The Doctor looked up at the ceiling with a face full of betrayal. _"[Sexy, did you know about this!?]"_

The TARDIS whirred her answer to the equivalent of "Yes."

"And you didn't tell me!?"

She made fretful, indignant noises.

"Oh, don't blame her. I told her not to."

"(Y/N)! Turning my Sexy against me!"

“Sorry…”

You wrapped your arms around each other and held together close, falling in and out of consciousness. You were feeling all gooey inside that he was cuddling with you of his own free will despite his dislike for hugs.

_"[I love you, old man.]"_

He hummed into your hair. You whispered to him until his head dropped into your lap in slumber:

_"[You're not alone. You're not alone.]"_

&

"Hey, Doctor?"

"Mm?"

"Will you tell me your real name?"

A pause.

"Maybe someday."


End file.
